Picture this. It’s the ’70s. The decade of Bell bottoms, the decade of disco, and the decade where marketing stopped being a bunch of suits yelling “Buy this!” and became an art form of whispering “You need this.” Leading the charge of this art form in the heart of Silicon Valley is a man named Regis McKenna.
According to the San Jose Mercury News, Regis McKenna became one of the 100 people who made Silicon Valley what it is today, a legendary industry figure, widely referred to as a “marketing guru’s marketing guru” who promoted technical products as if they were consumer goods before they actually were consumer goods, focusing always on the consumer. He has also been called a “czar,” “wizard,” “Svengali,” even “philosopher king”, and is known to many as “the man who put Silicon Valley on the map”
UCC, Ireland
Born in Pittsburgh to an Irish Catholic family, Regis wasn’t just another suit in an org. He was the marketing maestro behind the tech giants of the era. Intel? Apple? They were all in his little black book.
When a young Steve Jobs came knocking, desperate for Regis to sprinkle his magic on Apple (which is basically two guys in a garage at this point), Regis liked their vision and eventually agreed to mentor them.
But here’s the kicker. Jobs, so thrilled to have McKenna on board, offered him a whopping 20% of Apple’s stock. Now before we talk about how stupid of that decision sounds in hindsight, let me lay that out for you to appreciate the scale of this decision.
That is a mind-boggling $772 BILLION at today’s valuation (Apple’s marketcap at the time of writing stands at $3.86 Trillion). In a parallel universe, Regis could’ve bought a country. Or 70.
But he declined, opting for cold, hard cash. A decision he’d later call his biggest professional regret. (That fateful letter is now on display at Apple’s HQ.)
Rob Janoff of McKenna’s firm designed the iconic Apple logo back in 1977 (he is quoted as saying that he “put the bite in there…to ensure that the figure was not interpreted as a tomato.”!).
UCC, Ireland
Now, here’s the part that really sticks with me. Regis’ business card at his own company had a job title that simply read: “Himself.”
In Irish culture, “Himself” is a playful way to refer to a man of importance. Someone who knows he’s kind of a big deal. It’s usually said with a wink and a nudge. But for Regis, it wasn’t about ego. It was a profound statement about not being defined by labels.
It echoes what Oscar Wilde once said, eloquently paraphrased by Stephen Fry:
Oscar Wilde said that if you know what you want to be, then you inevitably become it – that is your punishment, but if you never know, then you can be anything. There is a truth to that. We are not nouns, we are verbs. I am not a thing – an actor, a writer – I am a person who does things – I write, I act – and I never know what I am going to do next. I think you can be imprisoned if you think of yourself as a noun.
This story and that insight knocked me sideways when I first heard them at 21. They fundamentally reshaped my perspective.
Fast forward to today, and as I navigate my own journey – I’m acutely aware that I don’t want to constrain myself with a limiting title or a single function.
As Naval Ravikant, the celebrated entrepreneur and modern philosopher, puts it: “Specialization is for insects.”
In our age of rapid change and innovation, it’s the generalists – those who can draw from a vast reservoir of knowledge to solve problems and bridge gaps – who have the upper hand. In fact, using the term generalist also violates this general guideline of not using umbrella terms for things. But, this is the best one that I can settle for.
So while I leverage tools from my toolkit to solve different problems, I don’t let them define me. I’m driven by curiosity, constant learning, and an appetite for new challenges.
My role in all this? Like Regis McKenna: “Himself.” A verb. An evolution.
Because at the end of the day, we are all works in progress. Our purpose is to grow, to adapt, to continually redefine what we’re capable of.
And that, more than any astronomical potential payday, is the real lesson I’ve taken from Regis McKenna’s story.